Mentions:
1: Tim Loughton (Con - East Worthing and Shoreham) coroners, if they see fit, to investigate stillbirths in certain cases. - Speech Link
Oral Evidence Feb. 20 2024
Inquiry: The Coroner Service: follow-upFound: Coroners Courts Support Service, and Coroners Courts Support Service Oral Evidence
Laid - 8 Mar 2024 In Force 1 Apr 2024
Schedule 2 to the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (c. 25) divided England and Wales into coroner areas. It established that the Lord Chancellor may, by order, both specify and alter these. Subsequently, the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (Coroner Areas and Assistant Coroners) Transitional Order 2013 (S.I. 2013/1625), which …
Found: Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (Alteration of Coroner Areas) Order 2024
Written Evidence Jan. 24 2024
Inquiry: The Coroner Service: follow-upFound: TCS0022 - The Coroner Service: follow-up National Panel for Local Authority Coroners Services Written
Nov. 03 2009
Source Page: Letter dated 03/11/2009 from Lord Bach to Lord Ramsbotham regarding Coroners and Justice Bill 2008-09: Coroners appointed. 2 p.Found: Letter dated 03/11/2009 from Lord Bach to Lord Ramsbotham regarding Coroners and Justice Bill 2008-09
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure the adequacy of coroners' inquests.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The coroner’s statutory duty, through the investigation and inquest process, is to establish who has died, and when, where and how they died. Coroners are independent judicial office holders and the way in which they conduct their investigations and inquests is a matter for them. However, the Government and the Chief Coroner are clear that the bereaved should be placed at the heart of this process.
The office of the Chief Coroner was introduced in 2013 to provide judicial leadership, guidance and support to coroners and to promote consistency of standards and practice. In addition, the Chief Coroner is required to provide an annual report to the Lord Chancellor which, amongst other issues, assesses the consistency of standards between coroner areas.
The Government continues to identify and implement measures to promote consistency of standards in coroner services – for example, through the programme of coroner area mergers, and by means of a suite of provisions in the Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022 to streamline coronial processes.
We also accepted a number of recommendations made by the Justice Committee following its 2021 Inquiry into the Coroner Service, and undertook to give further consideration to others. The Committee’s current follow up Inquiry will, amongst other issues, consider progress against those recommendations.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of sending coroner inquest notification letters to bereaved family members using signed for delivery.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
While the Ministry of Justice is responsible for coroner law and policy, it does not have operational responsibility for coroner services as they are a local service, funded and administered by individual local authorities. Moreover, coroners are independent judges and the way in which they manage their investigations and inquests is a matter for them.
Rule 9(1) of the Coroners (Inquests) Rules 2013 requires the coroner to notify the deceased person’s next of kin of the date, time and place of the inquest hearing. The method by which this notification is provided is a matter for the individual coroner service.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of allowing bereaved family members to receive coroner inquest notifications by text message.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
While the Ministry of Justice is responsible for coroner law and policy, it does not have operational responsibility for coroner services as they are a local service, funded and administered by individual local authorities. Moreover, coroners are independent judges and the way in which they manage their investigations and inquests is a matter for them.
Rule 9(1) of the Coroners (Inquests) Rules 2013 requires the coroner to notify the deceased person’s next of kin of the date, time and place of the inquest hearing. The method by which this notification is provided is a matter for the individual coroner service.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions a body was released more than seven days after the coroner's office was notified in (a) Birmingham and (b) Solihull in each of the last 12 months; and whether the coroner (i) collects information on someone's religion and (ii) takes into account the timeframe for religious beliefs and practices relating to death and dying.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Information is not held centrally on the release by coroners of the bodies of the deceased whose deaths are reported to them.
Coroners are judges and, as such, are independent in the decisions they make in conducting their investigations. They exercise their judicial discretion in accordance with the relevant statutory and regulatory framework.
The Chief Coroner has issued a suite of Guidance to assist coroners with the law and their legal duties, and to provide advice on policy and practice. His Guidance No.28 on Decision Making and Expedited Decisions is intended to be a practical guide to assist coroners in situations where a bereaved family has made a request to the coroner for urgent consideration of the death of a loved one and/or early release of their body; or where the coroner or coroner’s officers otherwise become aware of features of a particular death which may justify treating it as especially urgent.
Jan. 22 2009
Source Page: Table showing number of open verdicts returned by coroners for each year from 2002 to 2007, broken down by coroner district. 6 p.Found: Table showing number of open verdicts returned by coroners for each year from 2002 to 2007, broken down